Electrospinning NH2-MIL-101/PAN nanofiber mats: A promising catalyst with Lewis acidic and basic bifunctional sites for organic transformation reactions

Because of their distinctive characteristics, like great surface area and capability of structure modifications, Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) were endorsed as outstanding candidates for catalysis purposes. The incorporation of MOF into an organic polymer frameworks is thought to be a promising approach to enhance the catalysts performance, however, a facile and low-cost approach to prepare such catalysts is currently missing. Herein, a direct approach for integration the MOF into nanofibers with improved catalytic organic transformation reactions without film rupture is reported. The electrospun NH2-MIL-101 @polyacrylonitrile (PAN) catalyst nanofibers with varied MOF to PAN mass ratio was fabricated by a facile electrospinning approach and used as integrated catalyst for Friedel–Crafts acylation of anisole, esterification of amyl alcohol, and Knoveonagel condensation reaction of aldehydes. The fabricated MOF-catalysts nanofibers NH2-MIL-101 @PAN show effective anisole acylation, ester production, and Knoveonagel condensation reaction. The anisole acylation, ester production, and Knoveonagel condensation efficiency boosted to 90%, 79%, and 98% after incorporating NH2-MIL-101 nanocrystals into the elctrospun PAN nanofibers. The great surface area, available active centers in the pore architecture, and unsaturated Cr3+ Lewis acid centers are responsible for this exceptional performance. Because of its adaptability, our approach offers a cutting-edge and intriguing platform for the future tailoring of MOF fabrics with a wide range of practical uses.